Dog reaching for leftovers nearly sets house on fire

OLATHE, Kan. - When you leave your dog home alone, you may worry that you'll come home to a chewed shoe, or maybe a mess on the floor.

But a Kansas man was lucky to have a home to come back to at all because Jared Herrera's dog almost set the house on fire while he was gone.

Firefighters believe the goldendoodle named Harley was trying to get to some leftovers on the counter and accidentally turned on a burner on the gas stove. That sparked a flame that seared a cutting board that had been left near the stove.

Luckily, neighbors heard the shriek of the smoke alarm and called 911. When fire crews arrived, they enlisted the neighbors' help in getting Harley out.

"It was bad, because she was in the house. So, when all the smoke was filling up, they said she was by the front door, you know, just on down, and as soon as it opened up, Lisa, my neighbor, hollered for her, and she came running out. So I think she realized, she knew something was going on," said Jared Herrera.

Herrera says he's grateful for the quick-thinking of his neighbors and warns that things could have been much worse if he hadn't had working smoke detectors.